SJU Game notes

[Halldan1]

Pirates Invade World’s Most Famous Arena, Take on St. John’s Sunday at MSG

Seton Hall (18-7, 8-5 BIG EAST, KenPom 32, RPI 42) at St. John's (8-19, 1-13 BIG EAST, KenPom 234, RPI 209)

Feb. 21 · Madison Square Garden (New York, N.Y.) · 12 p.m.

TV: FS1 with Tim Brando & Tarik Turner

Radio: AM970 The Answer with Gary Cohen & Dave Popkin



ISAIAH WHITEHEAD OVER LAST 6 GAMES


FOX ALL-ACCESS VIDEO



What to Know About The Hall:

• The Pirates completed a season sweep of Georgetown on Wednesday, prevailing 72-64 at the Verizon Center behind team-highs of 22 points and six assists for sophomore standout Isaiah Whitehead. Whitehead has been on fire shooting the ball and after going 4-of-5 from downtown against the Hoyas, the Brooklyn native is now 11-of-14 from beyond the arc in his last two outings. Over the last six games, he has led the team in scoring five times - topping the 20-point mark on four occasions - and finished with a team-leading assist total in each of the last five.
• During the six-game surge that has seen him average 21.0 points/game and nearly four treys per contest, Whitehead has knocked down 23-of-39 3-point attempts (.590). During the stretch, his 3-point percentage has risen from 30.0 percent to 37.6 percent for the season - a mark that currently stands ninth in the BIG EAST. The streak began with a 4-of-9 effort from deep in a 19-point win over St. John’s prior to which he shot 11-of-41 (.268) on 3-pointers over the team’s first seven conference games. With his shooting stroke thriving, Whitehead will enter Sunday’s contest with the third-best 3-point percentage in the league since the start of conference play (.425).
• In year two at The Hall, Whitehead has blossomed into one of the most complete guards in the country, transitioning to the point guard position with results that place him among elite company. Entering the weekend, the former McDonald’s All-American stands third in the BIG EAST in both scoring (16.8 ppg) and assists (4.9 apg) for the season, joining Providence’s Kris Dunn (17.3 ppg/2nd, 6.6 apg/1st) and Michigan State’s Denzel Valentine (19.7 ppg/1st, 7.3 apg/1st) as the only players in the power basketball conferences who rank among the top three of their respective league’s in both categories.
• Due in large part to the current stellar run, Whitehead is now averaging 18.7 ppg and 5.7 apg in conference play, out-scoring last year’s Co-BIG EAST Player of the Year Dunn (17.9 ppg in BIG EAST games) and nearly matching his assist average of 6.1 per contest while posting a better assist/turnover ratio (1.6/1.4). Getting the job done on both ends, Whitehead also leads all BIG EAST guards with 1.2 blocks/game against league foes.
• With the win over the Hoyas, Seton Hall completed its second sweep of Georgetown in the last three years and head coach Kevin Willard became the sixth head man ever to record 100 wins at The Hall. No Seton Hall coach had reached the 100-win mark since SHU Athletics Hall of Famer PJ Carlesimo did so during a 31-win 1988-89 campaign that culminated in a national championship game appearance. With the victory, Willard joined John “Honey” Russell (294 wins), Carlesimo (212), Frank Hill (178), Bill Raftery (154) and Richie Regan (112) in the exclusive group
• The Hall now sits at 8-5 in conference play, matching the program’s high-water mark for BIG EAST wins during Willard’s tenure. Four of those victories have come on the road and another on Sunday at The Garden would equal the Pirates’ all-time high of five wins away from home in BIG EAST play. SHU has previously finished with five BIG EAST road wins four times, all of which were banner years in the illustrious history of the program:
  • 1988-89 - 5-3 BIG EAST road record/11-5 conference record (2nd) // 31-7 overall, National Runner-up
  • 1991-92 - 5-4 BIG EAST road record/12-6 conference record (1st) // 23-9 overall, Sweet 16
  • 1992-93 - 5-4 BIG EAST road record/14-4 conference record (1st) // 28-7 overall, BE Tourn. Champs
  • 1999-00 - 5-3 BIG EAST road record/10-6 conference record (5th) // 22-10 overall, Sweet 16
• In sole possession of third place in the BIG EAST entering the weekend, the Pirates continue to make a push for the program’s 10th all-time NCAA Tournament berth and its first since 2006. Seton Hall currently ranks as one of the top-50 teams in the nation according to the latest RPI rankings (42) and just outside the top-30 (31) according to KenPom.com. With five true road wins already to their credit, the Pirates own more away victories than 22 of the 41 teams ahead of them in the RPI ratings. SHU is 8-2 against the teams it leads in the BIG EAST standings and three of the squad’s’ five losses over the last 10 weeks have come to teams among the top-five in RPI (Villanova, 2x - 2 / Xavier - 5). All seven of the Pirates’ losses overall have been against current RPI Top-100 opponents
• Sophomores Khadeen Carrington and Desi Rodriguez stepped up in a huge way to spur The Hall to its latest road victory over Georgetown, dropping 18 and 17 points respectively. Carrington, who averaged just 7.2 ppg in the 22 games in which Whitehead was active during their rookie campaigns - has combined with his fellow Brooklyn native to form the third-highest scoring tandem in the BIG EAST. Through 25 games, Carrington has scored in double-figures 21 times and ranks 12th in the league at 14.0 ppg overall. Rodriguez has sank 13 field goals while posting 17.5 ppg over the last two contests and has totaled 10+ points 15 times this year after doing so three times in 31 appearances as a freshman
• Big man Angel Delgado has continued to shine as well and on Wednesday, the 6-foot-9 sophomore gobbled up 11 rebounds to reach double-figures on the boards for the 17th time this season and the eighth since the start of conference play. Five of those double-digit rebounding efforts have come in the last six games, a stretch that began with a 15-point, 17-rebound performance against the Red Storm. In three career appearances against St. John’s, Delgado has pulled down at least 12 boards in each and heads into Sunday’s clash just three total rebounds behind Marquette’s Henry Ellenson in the race for the rebounding title. Last year’s BIG EAST Rookie of the Year and rebounding champion, Delgado would be just the sixth player to repeat as BIG EAST rebounding champion and the first since Notre Dame’s Luke Harangody from 2007-09.
• In the first meeting with St. John’s, each member of the all-sophomore starting lineup scored at least eight points, totaling 61 points between them to 60 for the Red Storm as a team. The effort is one of 22 in which Whitehead, Carrington, Rodriguez, Ismael Sanogo and Delgado have combined for over 50 points through
• 25 games but represents one of only two games in which all five have scored eight points or more (at Marquette, 12/30/15). Senior Derrick Gordon also finished with eight points against the Red Storm as part of the balanced effort, one of his 15 games with eight points or more this season - 13 of which have come in a reserve role.
• With a win Sunday, Seton Hall will have beaten St. John’s twice in the same season for the first time since 2004-05. The Pirates and Red Storm have met 21 times at The Garden in the 94-game history of the series with STJ holding a 13-8 advantage. Fourteen of those meetings have taken place in the regular season, three in the BIG EAST Tournament and four prior to the BIG EAST era including the 1953 NIT championship won by The Hall.
• By virtue of a victory at Creighton to close the month of January, the Pirates reached the 15-win plateau for the fifth consecutive season. This marks the first time since 1990-95 that The Hall has posted 15+ victories in five-straight years. SHU Athletics Hall of Famer PJ Carlesimo led the Pirates for the first four years of the stretch while George Blaney took over prior to the 1994-95 campaign. Sixth-year head coach Kevin Willard is the first Seton Hall coach to be at the helm for five consecutive 15+ win seasons in the BIG EAST era and is the first SHU head man to accomplish the feat since Bill Raftery did so in six-straight years from 1973-79. Including Raftery and Willard, eight different coaches have led SHU during that span.
• Seton Hall Athletics announced that in the fall, student-athlete academic performance reached a new all- time high for the 11th-straight semester. Head coach Kevin Willard’s squad boasts six Dean’s List honorees from the fall (Angel Delgado, Derrick Gordon, Michael Nzei, Desi Rodriguez, Veer Singh, Isaiah Whitehead) and increased its cumulative GPA to 3.18. The Willard-led Pirates earned an NCAA Public Recognition Award over the summer for posting a multiyear APR that ranks among the top-10 percent among all men’s basketball teams and are part of a collection of 14 varsity programs at The Hall that all own a cumulative GPA over 3.1.

Tweetables:

• .@SetonHallMBB shooting to go 4-0 against @georgetownhoyas and @StJohnsBBall for the first time in the @BIGEAST era #HALLin
• Following the W over the Hoyas Wed., @SetonHallMBB is 14-0 when up at the half and 18-0 when leading by 7 at any point in the game
• .@SetonHallMBB and @StJohnsBBall meet @TheGarden for the 22nd time Sunday but just the 3rd in the last 10 years